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London will host a vegan effective advocacy workshop in September this year, aiming to help ‘vegans across the country communicate more effectively and to bolster the success of the movement’.
It will be the second time the Center for Effective Vegan Advocacy (CEVA) has come to the UK to present the training event hosted by ProVeg UK and led by Dr. Melanie Joy and Tobias Leenaert.
According to ProVeg UK, the two-day event on September 1-2 ‘aims to increase the impact and effectiveness of both individual advocates, on-the-street activists and anyone affiliated with an organisation’.
Vegan advocacy
Harvard-educated psychologist Dr. Melanie Joy, who authored Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows, and coined the term ‘carnism’, will discuss how to recognise and respond to defensiveness – in meat eaters and vegans – as well as ways to avoid getting caught up in unproductive or counterproductive communications about eating animals.
She said: “Being an effective advocate is so important because they really are the engine of the movement. When we improve the effectiveness of advocates, we improve the effectiveness of the movement as a whole; the movement is only as effective as its advocates.
“It is about developing a new set of skills or an improved set of skills about how to navigate the complicated process of communicating about veganism. Greater self-awareness and more sustainability, the ability to stay in the movement for the long haul and more collegiality, more of an ability to communicate effectively, not just with non-vegans but also with other vegans which I think is critical to strengthening the movement.”
Dr. Melanie Joy’s TED Talk on carnism
Strategies
Tobias Leenaert, the Vegan Strategist and author of How to Create a Vegan World: A Pragmatic Approach, will lead a session titled: Making Compassion Easier: Normalising Veganism.
He said: “To help animals, we need to look at what works, and not just follow our own theories and ideologies. Being pragmatic is not (just) about not offending people, and it certainly is not about compromising or selling out. It’s about doing what works.
“This workshop will help participants think anew about strategy and to pick the best ideas and strategies for the current phase of the vegan movement.”
The event will be held at Bankside House in London over the two days. You canfind more information and book tickets here
